COLORADO SPRINGS, United States – USA Hockey announced on Monday that its management team from the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team – general manager Brian Burke and associate general manager David Poile – will team up again in the same capacities to lead the national team for the upcoming IIHF World Championship, May 7-23, in Cologne, Mannheim and Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Burke is the president and general manager of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, while Poile serves a similar role with the Nashville Predators.
In addition, USA Hockey also announced that Scott Gordon, who served as an assistant coach at the 2010 Olympics and is the head coach of the New York Islanders, will serve as head coach of Team USA at the 2010 Worlds. Todd Richards, head coach of the Minnesota Wild, and Ron Rolston, one of two head coaches at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, will serve as Gordon's assistants.
Team USA’s management group, led by Burke and Poile and also including Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director for hockey operations, and NHL general managers Paul Holmgren (Philadelphia Flyers), Dean Lombardi (L.A. Kings), Ray Shero (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Don Waddell (Atlanta Thrashers), will select the national team for the 2010 World Championship.
USA Hockey also announced the following support staff for the 2010 U.S. Men’s National Team: Bob Webster, team leader; Brent Proulx (Minnesota Wild), equipment manager; Ryan Ward (New York Islanders), video coordinator; Dr. Steve Stecker, team physician; Tim Clark (Anaheim Ducks) and Stan Wong, athletic trainers; Peewee Willmann, massage therapist; and Dave Fischer, USA Hockey's senior director of communications.
Burke, the president and general manager of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, most recently served as the general manager of the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team. He also served in the same capacity for both the 1993 and 2009 U.S. Men's National Teams that competed at IIHF World Championships.
Poile, the associate general manager for the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, will serve in the same capacity for the 2010 U.S. Men's National Team.
On the international stage, Poile served as general manager for two U.S. Men's National Teams (1998, 1999), while serving as associate general manager for the 2009 U.S. Men's National Team.
The president of hockey operations and general manger for the NHL's Nashville Predators, Poile has 27 consecutive years of experience as an NHL general manager, ranking as the second-longest current streak in the league and sixth in NHL history.
Gordon, an assistant coach for the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, is back behind the bench of a U.S. Men's National Team for the second straight year after serving as an assistant coach for the 2009 U.S. Men's National Team at the IIHF World Championship in Berne and Zurich-Kloten, Switzerland.